First Independent Mena Newspaper
The European Commission has designated seven countries — including Morocco, India and Colombia — as “safe countries of origin,” paving the way for accelerated deportations of failed asylum seekers, despite some ongoing concerns over human rights conditions. Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia have been major departure points for irregular migration to Europe, particularly across the central […]
Türkiye is steadily expanding its influence across Africa through a blend of diplomacy, military cooperation, and development initiatives, positioning itself as a strategic alternative to traditional powers like France and the United States. At the Antalya Diplomacy Forum held from 11-13 April, African leaders, including Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, gathered with Turkish officials, highlighting […]
Mozambique is under increasing international scrutiny following revelations that over 300 people were killed during a violent government crackdown on post-election protests between October 2024 and January 2025. A new Amnesty International report accuses the country’s security forces of unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests, and excessive force, calling the response ‘reckless and unnecessary.’ The protests erupted […]
Nigeria is facing a new and dangerous phase in its battle against terrorism, as the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) begins deploying armed drones in its insurgency campaign. In a recent attack in Borno State in Northeast Nigeria, the group used modified drones carrying locally made grenades, injuring five soldiers and signaling a major […]
South Africa has shown once more its hostility to Morocco’s territorial integrity in connivance with the Algerian military regime by trying to deceive member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and drag them into supporting Polisario, Algeria-backed armed militias. But all their plots and manipulations have failed and blew up on their faces, […]
As tensions surge between the world’s two largest economies, China is ramping up its global diplomacy, holding strategic talks with Saudi Arabia and South Africa to counterbalance the United States’ sweeping new tariffs. China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao recently held virtual meetings with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia and South Africa, focusing on responses to […]
Africa’s mounting debt burden — now standing at 64.3% of the continent’s GDP — is choking vital investments in health, education, and infrastructure, warns the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Speaking at a recent Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, UNECA executive secretary Claver Gatete painted a sobering picture: out of 144 Sustainable […]
Brice Oligui Nguema, the military leader who ousted long-time president Ali Bongo in a 2023 coup, has won Gabon’s presidential election with a staggering 90.35% of the vote, according to provisional results announced by the Interior Ministry. This marks the first election in over five decades not dominated by the Bongo family, whose rule was […]
A devastating wave of attacks by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on famine-stricken displacement camps in Darfur has left more than 100 civilians dead, according to the United Nations. Survivors describe a scene of horror as the RSF intensified its campaign to seize control of the last army-held city in the region, El-Fasher. The […]
Former Congolese president Joseph Kabila’s unexpected return to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has ignited a political firestorm in a nation already engulfed by escalating conflict and growing insecurity in its eastern region. Announcing his return after six years of silence and exile, Kabila, once ousted amid mass protests, says he aims to help […]